Can there be love?
by idafeehily
Summary: I suck at summaries. i hope this helps: Can there be love if it's not really about love?
1. Chapter 1: The Proposal

Chapter 1- The Proposal  
  
The pub was buzzing with activity. All wizards and witches, young and old alike; celebrated the defeat of Lord Voldermort. In one corner of the pub, three young men of twenty-three were seated together. Had they been sixteen, one of them would've been beaten up by two of them. However, things changed towards the end of their seventh year on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, when they were all almost adult. Whilst preparing for their NEWT, one of the boys' father had been murdered by the very man he had served for the most part of his life. That man was Lucius Malfoy. After the murder, the whole of Malfoy Manor was searched and the aurors had discovered that the manor had been subjected by dark curses that even anything considered 'non-evil' would have been burned the minute it stepped into the manor. That was when seventeen years old Draco Malfoy was brought into the custody of Professor MacGonagall the Head of Gryffindor House who, together with Professor Snape of the Slytherin House, had help bring out any piece of good that could be found in the heart of young Draco Malfoy. Under their guidance, Draco Malfoy had blossomed from an arrogant prat into a mature and responsible young man who was given the sole responsibility of the huge Malfoy fortune once the Manor had been properly restored out of its darkness. It was after Draco had turned twenty-one, that he decided to train as aurors to help defeat Voldermort, not just to avenge his family, but also to rid the world of the Dark Side.  
  
Aurors Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger had welcomed him with open arms when he first joined the aurors. Other aurors soon followed suit seeing that since the three aurors had accepted their school nemesis into the team, it should be safe for them to accept him too. The four of them worked as good leaders to their team of aurors. They not only have to solve crimes but they also needed to be on constant lookout for possible Death Eater attacks, although most of the time those two were done concurrently, since most of the cases they faced were always traced back to Voldermort.  
  
"Come off it, Draco!" Harry said as he slapped Draco's back and he flashed a smirk in return. "You're looking at her again."  
  
"I'm not looking at anyone!" Draco replied, sounding irritated and finished his glass of beer before pouring himself another one.  
  
"Right...we believe you. We also believe you if you lie about looking at her, and then smiling as your hand reach inside your pocket where you have the ring you intend to use when you propose to her," Ron added and winked to Harry.  
  
"I am not looking at her and...wait a minute! How do you guys know about the ring?" Draco asked, his hand protectively covering the bulge in his pocket, in which the ring was resting safely on a velvet cushion inside a silver square box. Frowning, he added, "Have you been spying on me?"  
  
"Spying on what?" Hermione had chosen that moment to join the men at their table. A glare from Draco told the guys that they were not supposed to say anything about the ring. Instead, Harry and Ron had decided that they would join in the fun on the dance floor, leaving Hermione and Draco on the table.  
  
"So, why aren't you dancing?" Hermione asked and made as a face as she held Harry's glass. She sanitized it with a swish of her wand and filled it with beer. After realizing the beer tasted quite bad, what is this stuff?, she ordered a martini and again asked the question to Draco, who had suddenly found his shoes more interesting to look at than anything Hermione was saying. Before she could get the answer out of him, all the lights in the pub seemed to have focused on them. Someone was using the microphone to clear his throat on stage. Draco and Hermione looked up to see Harry and Ron on stage, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Draco Malfoy has something to say to Ms. Hermione Granger," Harry announced as Ron led the crowd to clap with him. Harry cleared his throat again and turned silent. Before Hermione could digest what just happened, Draco was already on his knees, holding out the ring for her to see.  
  
"Hermione Granger, will you marry me?" The crowd held their breath as Hermione set her glass down and slowly took the ring from Draco. She looked up to Harry and Ron and gave a slight smile. Ron smiled back and took the mike.  
  
"She said yes!" Ron shouted through the mike. The crowd cheered and soon almost everyone crowded towards Draco and Hermione's table to congratulate them. The witches were kissing Hermione's cheeks and she smiled at the crowd's acceptance of the proposal. Smiling at Draco, who thought she was very cute with all the lipstick marks all over her face, she apparated home, taking the ring with her. 


	2. Chapter 2: After the Proposal

A/N: ... refers to what should have been in italics, i.e. in the case of this chapter, the italics are meant to represent flashbacks. I don't know why it can be shown after I've uploaded to ffn.  
  
Chapter 2- After the Proposal  
  
Hermione sat on the couch staring at the ring that Draco had proposed to her with earlier. Ron's voice saying, "She said yes!" kept replaying on her mind.  
  
'I did not even give an answer, damn it!' Hermione thought to herself. Placing the ring on her coffee table, she walked towards the bookshelf where all her photo albums could be found.  
  
"Now that we have a new member with us, Miss Granger will not need to wait for Mr. Potter to finish his turn with Mr. Weasley," Lupin announced as he led the new trainee auror in.  
  
The trainee had his hood on, so Hermione could not see who the newcomer was. She then went over to Lupin to be introduced to the newcomer. Nodding to Hermione, Lupin left the two to get to know each other.  
  
"Hello, my name is Hermione Granger," Hermione introduced herself, offering her hand to the newcomer. Seeing no response from him, Hermione added, "Don't worry. I've been out of practice, so you don't have to think about me hurting you or anything." With that, Hermione positioned herself to starting position and pointed her wand to him.  
  
"Ready, stranger?" She saw what looked like a nod from him and started on the first curse.  
  
The newcomer immediately blocked the spell and cast another one. Hermione almost could not see it coming but she deflected it anyway.  
  
"You're good, you know," she said, walking towards the newcomer. He still had his hood on. "Are you shy? Don't be, all of us are friends here."  
  
When the newcomer lowered his hood, Hermione gasped. "Malfoy??!"  
  
The picture was taken right after Hermione had mentioned his name. Someone apparently thought it was funny to take a picture of Harry fighting with Ron over who would take Hermione's place to duel with Draco. It was only when Lupin came over and explained that it was to Hermione's benefit that she practice with Draco, since it was about time she dueled with someone other than Harry and Ron, that the boys went back to practicing with themselves. Laughing to herself, Hermione then flipped to another page, this time, showing the four of them in Hermione's kitchen.  
  
"Snape actually makes pancakes for breakfast?" Ron asked as the boys helped to set the table for late breakfast. They had just spent the previous night partying to celebrate Hermione's twenty first's birthday.  
  
"Yup, he doesn't believe in using magic to prepare his meals," Draco added while he poured the batter onto the hot pan. Walking towards the grill, he added, "He is really, you know, nice. I mean, I know you guys think he always favoured me back in Hogwarts. I mean, knowing what kind of a man Lucius was, I just couldn't help respecting Snape as a man, not just as my professor. There was this time when I injured myself in his potions lab. He spent a long time nagging me on the dangers of using any of the ingredients in his personal lab. You see, Snape the man does not label his ingredients. He just needs to look and he knows what are in the test tubes. So, anyway, he was nagging at me and making me feel all guilty towards the only man willing to take me in after what happened to Lucius. When he was done, he actually nursed my arm back to its perfect state."  
  
"If I didn't know any better, I would think you've fallen in love with him," Ron said, in a solemn sarcastic way. Draco picked a hot slice of bacon and hit it towards Ron who only happily caught it between his teeth. Harry simply shook his head and warned them that the girls would be up soon and Hermione did not like having lying around on her kitchen floor.  
  
The picture-Hermione was making her way out of her bedroom. So, Hermione assumed that it was Ginny who had taken the picture. Picture-Hermione then went over to Picture-Ron who gave her a hug and then to Picture-Harry who kissed her on her cheek. Picture-Hermione then almost hugged Picture-Draco but then they both blushed and sat down to enjoy breakfast. "Strange, I've never noticed this before," Hermione thought.  
  
She went on to look at the rest of her photo album, all the time thinking of how the trio had become a foursome. Whilst Harry and Ron were always making fun of her and telling corny jokes, Draco seemed to treat her with a certain form of respect. Well, not that Harry and Ron had never respected her.  
  
When Harry and Ron hugged and kissed her cheeks at Christmases and New Year's Eves, Draco would simply tilt his champagne glass and nodded to her.  
  
When Harry or Ron placed their arm on her shoulders whenever she complained of the chilliness along the street, Draco would just took off his cloak and laid it gently on her shoulders, fastening the two ends together with a beautiful brooch which he always insisted on her keeping them whenever she returned his cloak the next day.  
  
'Hmm, maybe he has been brought up to treat ladies differently, no matter how close a friend they are,' Hermione thought.  
  
But, he proposed.  
  
When did he start liking her?  
  
Oh...when did he start loving her enough to even think of marrying her?  
  
Hermione looked through the photo albums again, searching for clues. 'A picture is worth a thousand words,' she thought. 'Maybe by looking at his facial expressions, I can tell when he starts having feelings for me.'  
  
-----------  
  
"Hey! Where's Hermione?" Seamus Finnigan asked, looking around the crowd, which had already started to shrink since it was almost four in the morning. Besides, most of the wizards and witches involved in the final battle had young children waiting for them back home.  
  
"She was here a while ago," Ginny replied, sipping her diet coke. She would never put her pregnancy in danger, thus she decided to go easy on the alcohol and stuck to coke instead.  
  
"I think she went home. Do you mind if I go check on her?" she asked Seamus, whom she had married in a small ceremony slightly a few months before the war.  
  
"No need, love. I think Draco will do that for you," Seamus said, pointing towards Draco who was excusing himself from the crowd who had not stopped congratulating him.  
  
"Come on, let's go home." Seamus and Ginny apparated out of the club.  
  
Seamus was right.  
  
Draco was indeed going to pay a visit to Hermione. They had not spoken a word since he proposed and he was almost worried that she was going to reject him.  
  
He didn't hear her say yes and because she was looking at Ron, he couldn't even see her mouthing 'Yes' to Ron, if that was what she did anyway. Anyhow, he wanted to be sure.  
  
When Draco appeared in Hermione's living room, he was not surprised that the house was quiet. 'She must be asleep then,' he thought.  
  
And then he saw the ring on the coffee table. He panicked.  
  
'Does this mean...?' He picked up the ring, fully intent on walking in on Hermione sleeping form and demanding an explanation from her.  
  
He walked a few steps and saw Hermione, sitting on the floor, reading parchments and parchments of letters. As he walked closer, he noticed that the letters were from him, judging from the seal at the top of each parchment.  
  
----------  
  
Hermione was holding onto the seashell that came with the letter that she was reading. She realised that, over the months, Draco had not only reported the outcomes and troubles he came across during his missions on his letters to her. He had slowly include details of the little things he had done when he was resting or taking a break from training younger aurors in other parts of the world.  
  
Like the seashell, for example. Draco had described that he spent minutes before he went to bed every night to polish it and carve her name so that it is perfect just like her, so he said.  
  
Hermione almost shed a tear when she touched the letters of her name on the perfectly polished shell.  
  
That was when she noticed his presence. She looked up and saw Draco looking at her, the ring sitting on his outstretched right palm.  
  
"Hermione?" he asked hesitantly. "Are you still marrying me?"  
  
Hermione dropped the seashell and hugged Draco.  
  
Draco could hear muffled 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' as she sobbed onto his shoulder. Draco placed his arms around her and they remained that way until Hermione pulled away.  
  
Hermione blushed and reached for his right hand. She said shyly, "I was wondering when you are going to put the ring on for me."  
  
Draco happily slid the ring down her finger, kissed the ring on her finger and carried her to her bedroom.  
  
There, Draco placed her gently on her bed, his grey eyes not leaving her brown ones. He kissed her forehead and tucked her to sleep, for she had had such a long night. 


End file.
